Filibuster
by deepfathom
Summary: A developer has big plans for a large stretch of woodlands and a pristine lake just outside a small town. With the city council in the palm of his hand, only the Wild Kratts Team and a determined troop of pint-sized girl scouts stand in his way. -Inspired by Frank Capra's 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"-
1. A Creature Power Proposal

**Chapter 1**

**A Creature Power Proposal**

"C'mon, JZ!" Martin encouraged, slapping the pilot on the back. "Try it, it's fun!"

"Yeah!" Chris agreed. "You can do it!"

The three of them were perched on a wooden platform high in a tree overlooking a small, crystal-clear lake. Jimmy stood quivering nervously between the two brothers, clutching the end of a knotted rope swing and eyeing the cool water with apprehension. Koki floated by below them on an inner tube, decked out in shorts, a t-shirt and sunglasses. Her nose was buried in a magazine and she was soaking up all the sun she could get.

"Oh darn!" Jimmy shrugged, shoving the rope into Chris's hands and turning to leave. "Koki's in the way. Guess I can't go!"

"Whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going?" Martin snagged Jimmy by an arm, spinning him back around.

"Back to the ship where it's safe."

Chris handed him the rope again. "JZ, nothing's gonna happen to you. It's a nice day and the water's great!"

"But what if the rope breaks?" Jimmy protested, inching forward until his bare toes were hanging off the edge of the platform. He was clinging to the rope as if his life depended on it. "What if I get tangled up and can't let go and then I smack right into the tree on the way back?

Martin and Chris both rolled their eyes, then exchanged sly looks, grinning at each other. Carefully, they crept up behind their completely oblivious teammate, preparing to give him a helpful shove.

"What if the water's so cold I die of hypothermia?" Jimmy continued. "A million things could go wro-OOOOOOOOONNNG!"

The brothers high-fived as the redhead flew out into the empty space over the water.

"Let go of the rope, Jimmy!" Martin yelled. "You're right over the lake! LET GO!"

At the last second, Jimmy released his grip and flopped flailing and screaming into the water right next to Koki. Chris and Martin winced.

"Oooooo!" said Martin. "That looked a little painful."

Koki shrieked as the cold wave created by Jimmy's less than graceful entrance into the water flipped the inner tube.

"Oops!" Chris said.

Both victims surfaced, spluttering and coughing. After a moment, they glared up at the culprits still standing on the platform. If looks could kill, the Kratt brothers would have died right then and there in that tree.

"You guys are in so much trouble!" Koki called, brandishing a dripping fist.

"We should probably run," Chris gulped, turning tail and making his getaway down the tree.

Martin was quick to follow. "Good plan, bro!"

xxxx

Aviva stepped back to admire her handiwork. She'd finally managed to isolate the glitch in the creature power suites and repair them. All that needed to be done before she could go out and chill with the rest of the gang was a test run. Now, if she could only convince a certain pair of brothers to stop messing around and—

The doors leading into the Tortuga slid open, admitting two breathless figures who appeared to be in some sort of major rush. Aviva blinked as Chris and Martin let the doors close again and pushed the button to lock them. Then they flipped around, wide-eyed and gasping for breath, looking as if they'd just been running for dear life.

"That was close!" blurted Martin. "I think we lost'em. They didn't see us come in here."

"Good thing," said Chris. "I think I heard them yelling something about water balloons and multiple dunkings for each of us."

"What in the world is going on?" Aviva giggled. "Who're you running from? I thought you were out on the lake?"

"We were!" said Martin, staggering forward. "But we tried to teach Jimmy how to fly without the Tortuga and then Koki got in the way—it wasn't our fault!"

"Well…not exactly," Chris added. "Quick! We can escape into the woods through the back exit!"

The two of them made a dash in that direction, but only got so far before Aviva caught them both by the backs of their shirts and brought them to a standstill.

"Hey!" Martin protested. "Do you _want_ us to get killed?"

"No," answered Aviva, grinning, "although I wouldn't mind seeing Koki and Jimmy plaster you with a few water balloons…"

"What?! You're turning us over to them?" Chris asked in disbelief.

Aviva sighed, letting them go. "As much as I'd love to, no. I was just about to come find you two to test the creature power suits when you conveniently ran in through the door."

The brothers' eyes lit up and they suddenly seemed to forget about their current predicament.

"You fixed the glitch?" Martin asked.

"Yup. I think we're good to go."

"Awesome!" Martin gave his brother a high-five as they each reached for their vest and slipped it on. "So what're we gonna do for a test run? Hmmm…"

The two stood deep in thought for a few seconds.

"I know!" Martin jabbed the air with a finger. "Bass powers! We could see who can make it to the other end of the lake first!"

Chris shook his head. "Uh-uh. I don't know about you, bro, but I'm not going anywhere near there while Koki and Jimmy are out for blood."

"Good point."

"You haven't used squirrel powers for a while," suggested Aviva. "You could race around the lake in the trees."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" said Chris. "We can test the suits _and_ avoid getting dunked!"

"Squirrels it is, then!" Martin made it across the room to the exit in two steps, practically brimming over with excitement. "Woo hoo! Let's go!"


	2. Squirrel Run

**Chapter 2**

**Squirrel Run**

"Are you guys ready up there?" Aviva called to a pair of oddly colored little creatures perched on a tree branch high above her.

Chris poked his head out and gave the thumbs-up. "Yup!"

"Alright, then. On your marks…"

Martin and Chris bent forward and positioned their back squirrel paws as if they were on invisible starting blocks.

"…get set…"

"See ya at the finish line, bro," Martin taunted, "after I win!"

Chris narrowed his eyes behind the green visor of his squirrel suit. "Huh, we'll see about that."

"GO!" Aviva shouted.

And they were off like a pair of bullets.

"Woo hooooo!" Chris hollered as they raced through the treetops at the breakneck speed. In human form, he hardly ever had a problem using trees as a means of travelling, but as a squirrel, the playing field was tipped even more in his favor.

"Hey!" Martin called as his brother passed him up. He wasn't too shabby as a squirrel himself, but it was obvious Chris had the advantage.

"Catch ya later, dude!" Chris laughed, leaping to a skinny branch almost eight feet away from the one they were currently racing down.

Not about to be left in the dust, Martin took a flying leap.

"Oh yeaaaaah!" He sailed through the air, aiming to land on the same branch…but a split second later, he realized he'd jumped too soon. His hands closed around empty space, centimeters shy of his ticket to the next tree. "OH NOOOOOO!" He flapped his arms, legs and tail as he hurtled to earth. This could be it for him! This could be the end—

"OOMP!" Just when his life was about to wrap up flashing before his eyes, he came to an abrupt, and surprisingly fluffy landing. It took him a second or two to realize that he was still alive and that whatever he'd landed in wasn't the ground. Completely baffled, he popped up.

"EEEK!" someone screamed. Before Martin could even think to move, a hand came out of nowhere and swatted at him. "What is it?! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF MY HEAD!"

Martin ducked as the hand made another swipe, but it wasn't soon enough. The hand made contact, knocking the wind right out of him and sending him flying out into the air once again. This time, there was nothing between him and the ground. He hit the forest floor with a painful thud.

xxxx

"Is it breathing?" The voice of a concerned young girl floated into Martin's clouded mind. "Should we give it CPR?"

"Are you out of your mind?" said another. "It's way too small! I think you killed it already anyway…whatever it is. It looks kinda like a squirrel."

"Yes, but squirrels don't have human faces." This third girl had a high, nasally voice laced with a noticeable lisp. "And furthermore, they're not blue."

"Well, maybe it's an alien?"

"Don't be ridiculous," lisp-girl said. "Science has yet to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life."

"Ok, then, maybe it's a were-squirrel? Y'know, like half human, half squirrel?"

"Whatever it is," said the first girl in an audible pout, "it messed up my hair."

So that's what had happened. He must've landed on this girl's head! The fog cleared out of Martin's brain enough for him to realize he was lying flat on his back on the ground. He coughed, opening his eyes. A blurry view of the faces of the three girls kneeling over him swam into view. They couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve years old.

One had bright red hair pulled into two tight braids that stuck out from the top of her head reminiscent of a pair of antennae. She wore huge, thick glasses and her face was covered in a splash of freckles. Her worried grimace revealed a set of teeth that were almost lost behind braces.

The next one had dark skin and a head full of short black hair that stood up in layer after layer of tightly wound, frizzy curls. This was definitely the girl he'd landed on.

The bright blue eyes of the third girl peered out from under a lime-green beanie with earflaps that trailed down in two long tassels. The messy ends of a chin-length blonde haircut poked out from underneath it. She nudged the frizzy-haired girl's arm.

"Look! It's awake!"

Before Martin could move, the red haired girl reached down and picked him up by the tail.

"We should take it back with us for analysis." Every word she spoke was accompanied by a shower of spit.

"Ow! Hey!" Martin said as he swung through the air. "I'm not an alien and I'm not really a squirrel either! My name's Martin and I was trying to race my brother around to the other side of the lake but I fell and now I can't find him!"

The three girls froze in total shock.

"D-d-did that little squirrel man just…talk to us?" frizzy girl asked, taking a step back and pointing.

"Yeah, I did. And sorry I messed up your hair, but it kinda saved my life—AAAGH!"

Martin yet again found himself falling as the three girls struck up a collective earsplitting shriek of fright, causing the redhead to drop him.


	3. Talking Weresquirrels

**Chapter 3**

**Talking Were-Squirrels**

Chris knew he was going to win. He was already leaps and bounds ahead of his brother and was now practically flying along the underside of a branch simply because he could.

"Ha! Check out this move, Martin!"

He thought he'd get some sort of flak for that one, but he didn't care. That is until he realized the frustrated answer he was expecting never came.

"Martin?" he called without stopping.

Chris was sure he'd been behind him this whole time, even if it was all the way back in another tree. He came to a halt, still upside down.

"Martin?" Still nothing. He scrabbled around to the top of the branch and put a hand over his eyes to get a good look through the sunlight. "Hey! Where'd ya go?"

They hadn't even made it halfway around the lake yet and already Martin had somehow managed to disappear. He was either distracted by something, or in trouble. Chris hoped he hadn't been picked off by a hawk or some other predator looking for a quick snack. That would be all they needed right now.

On the other hand, maybe he'd found a shortcut and was speeding to the finish line while Chris sat there wondering. If that was the case, he'd better get a move on. He prepared to launch into the next tree, but some nagging doubt in the very back of his mind told him go back.

"Hmm." Chris thought for a moment. Finally, he went with his gut and spun around. "Martin!" he shouted as he leaped effortlessly from tree to tree. "Bro! Where are you?"

He stopped for a breather, leaning against a thick trunk. His brother _had_ to be around here somewhere. What kind of trouble could the guy land himself in in a race around a lake in squirrel suit?

At that moment, the sound of several excited voices came to him from a short distance away, catching him off guard and triggering his squirrel instincts. Immediately, he scurried up and around the tree trunk, making sure it was between him and whoever was coming. He watched as three young girls cleared the underbrush, heading somewhere in a hurry. One of them, a redhead with thick glasses, freckles and a mouthful of braces, had something dangling out at arm's length. It was Martin! And he was still a squirrel!

"Just wait'll we get this talking were-squirrel to the college professors!" another girl, dressed in ripped up jeans and a purple sweater with a green beanie on her head, gasped. "We're gonna make the news! We'll be on TV and the internet!"

'Talking were-squirrel'? What on earth had his brother gone and gotten himself into now? Whatever it was, it was sure a doozey.

"For the last time, it's not a 'were-squirrel', Tess," the redhead replied in all seriousness. "I think we might have discovered a new species, but we can't be sure until we find a scientist."

"I _am _a scientist!" Martin protested loudly. "And I already told you I'm a human being! I'm wearing a suit with special technology in it that can change me into different animals at the push of a button so I can study them more closely! And watch that tail!"

Chris knew he should probably intervene, but Martin's situation was so amusing that he couldn't help but see what would happen next. He stifled a snort of laughter as the three girls stopped right under the tree.

"Oh yeah?" asked a girl with dark skin and a huge amount of frizzy curls on her head. She put a hand on a cocked hip, looking skeptical. "Then how come you can't change back into a human to prove it?"

Martin folded his arms as he swayed back and forth upside down. "The button's jammed."

"Hey, Martin," Chris asked, coming around the tree trunk and darting out to the end of a thick branch overhanging the group, "when were you gonna introduce me to your new friends?" He grinned and settled comfortably out on his stomach with his chin in the palms of his hands.

The girls looked up, startled.

"Chris!" yelped their tiny captive. "Where've you been? Get your squirrel tail down here and help me out!"

"Hey!" the girl called Tess exclaimed, pointing at Chris. "It's another were-squirrel!"

"Yeah, that's my brother," Martin grumbled, glaring. "But I don't think I want to claim him at the moment."

"What happened, bro?" Chris asked. "One second you were behind me and the next, POOF! You're gone."

Martin sighed heavily, letting his arms hang limply over his head. "Alright, alright! I botched a landing and fell—"

"Right on top of my head!" said frizz-girl. "And he messed up my hair!"

"I said I was sorry. Anyway, as you can see, I got picked up by these ladies and my suit's jammed and I think we're on our way to some community college so I can be identified as a new species. Can you please put me down now?"

"But then you'll escape!" said the redhead. "And we can't let an unidentified species loose on an unprepared ecosystem!"

"She makes a good point," Chris shrugged.

"Who's side are you on here?" Martin blurted. "I don't belong in a lab! I belong—"

"Living free and in the wild?" Chris finished.

"Yeah! Chris, could ya give me a hand here? All the blood's rushing to my head!"

"Oh, maybe…"

"Chris!"

"Only if you declare me the winner of the race."

"What?! That's not fair!"

"Say it."

"No way!"

"Ok," Chris stood up, folded his arms and spun around. "Have fun in that lab. I can always send you a postcard every once in a while. Maybe I'll even come visit you—"

"GAAH!" Martin grabbed at his squirrel ears. "Fine, fine! You win! But only because I was snagged by a bunch of kids!"

Satisfied with the answer, Chris turned back, smirking as he pushed the button in the middle of his suit. With a flash of green that prompted a sharp gasp from the group of girls, he was back to normal and leaning casually on the trunk of the tree.

"See?" Martin said. "We're not really—whoa, wait, don't you do it! Don't you dare drop me—"

The stunned redhead's grip faltered as she and the other girls stared dumbfounded at the guy in the tree. Martin slipped out of her hand and landed on his head.

"—again. Ow."

Chris slid off the branch.

"You ok?" he asked, stepping over and carefully scooping his squirrel-sized brother into his hands.

"Um…" Martin croaked, "can I get back to you on that one?"

"Sure." Chris glanced up at the girls, still standing rooted to the spot. "I think we've all got some explaining to do."


	4. A Hopeless Cause

**Chapter 4**

**A Hopeless Cause**

"Let me get this straight, MK," Aviva said, "you missed a landing, fell right on top of somebody's head and now your suit's jammed?"

Martin sighed, folding his arms. "That's right." He was standing on one of Chris's shoulders so Aviva could get a good look at the activation button on his suit through a large magnifier attached to a headband.

"It was _my_ head he landed on," piped up the girl with frizzy hair. Chris and Martin had brought the trio back to the Tortuga with them to sort things out.

"And it's a good thing," said Chris, "otherwise 'Martin the Squirrel' would've turned into 'Martin the Splat'."

Tess, the blonde who had been spinning around and around in Jimmy's vacant seat, stopped and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Ewww!"

Aviva sighed with relief. "This shouldn't be too hard to fix." She pulled out a tiny screwdriver and got straight to work. "This jam isn't the worst thing you two have managed to do to the suits. There! Good as new!"

"Alright!" Martin put his hand up to push the button.

"Wait!" blurted Chris. "Get off my shoulder before you—"

There was a flash of blue light and suddenly Martin was back to normal and Chris was sprawled flat on his stomach with him standing on top of his back.

"—deactivate," Chris finished. "Get off!"

"Ahh," Martin let out a satisfied breath. "I don't think I've ever been so happy _not_ to be an animal anymore—whoa!" He wobbled and hopped to solid ground as Chris started getting up.

"Wow!" said frizz-girl. "That's so cool!"

"Told you I'm really a human," said Martin, aiming a thumb at himself.

Tess's face reddened with embarrassment. "Sorry we thought you were a were-squirrel and almost took you to a lab…"

Martin waved her off. "It's all good."

Aviva pushed the magnifier away from her eyes and turned to the girls. "What are you three doing here in the woods anyway?"

Tess shrugged. "Oh, all the kids from town know about this place. Everybody comes here to hang out at the lake, climb trees, and look at the birds and animals. It's fun!"

"We were earning our bird-watching badges today!" frizz-girl said excitedly.

"Bird-watching badges?" Chris asked. "Sounds cool!"

"Yeah!" chimed in the redhead, puffing out her chest importantly. "We're the Clover Scouts of local Cluster 309!" She saluted as the other girls joined her, nodding.

"Well, that explains the sash," Martin said.

"What, this?" Redhead held out the green sash she was wearing over one shoulder. Nearly every inch of it was covered with colored, circular patches. "I hold the current record for the highest number of consecutive badges earned in one week."

"She wears them everywhere," Tess whispered behind a hand and rolled her eyes.

Chris, Martin and Aviva exchanged amused looks.

"So how about telling us your names?" Aviva said, smiling.

"Oh! This is Tess," the redhead pointed at the blonde, who waved, "Jenna," frizz-girl grinned, "and I'm Beatrice."

"Well, it's good to meet you all! I'm Aviva and this is Chris and Martin. Oh, and by the way, thanks for being under the right tree at the right time to save Martin from a nasty fall. You've got a pretty special place here, you know."

The happy smiles on the girls' faces faded a little.

"It's our favorite woods," Jenna said. "We're here almost every day…" she looked back at her friends, "but there's this crazy guy who wants to bulldoze all the trees and build a fancy hotel and golf course around the lake."

"What?!" exclaimed Chris, Martin and Aviva all at the same time.

Tess shook her head. "We've been trying to get the city council to change their minds, but they say it'll bring in tourists and money for the town or something like that. _We_ think it's a lame idea."

"It _is_ lame!" said Martin.

"Where will all the animals go when the trees are gone?" Jenna asked.

"And where will we swim in the summer?" added Tess.

"And when the forest is cleared away, how will we earn our tree-climbing and hiking badges?" finished Beatrice.

"You're absolutely right," agreed Chris. "This is bogus!"

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Aviva asked.

"Sure!" Beatrice's eyes brightened as she fished around in her pink backpack for a few seconds before pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper and a pen. "You can sign our petition! The mayor said we might have a chance of saving the woods if we get one hundred fifty signatures and raise enough money by this Thursday when they hold the public meeting in City Hall."

"Great! We'll definitely sign it!" Martin held out a hand. Beatrice gave him the paper, but his stomach sank as he smoothed it out. There were only about fifteen names on the entire list. He swallowed. "Uh…_ah-hem…_looks like you three are off to a pretty good start here." He signed it quickly and passed it along to Chris and Aviva, whose expressions reflected a similar hopelessness.

"This is an awesome idea, kids," Chris started, "but I don't think—oomp!"

Martin and Aviva each gave him a hasty jab in the ribs to shut him up.

Aviva laughed nervously. "What he meant to say is that he doesn't think you can—"

"—possibly _not_ get enough signatures," Martin finished, forcing an encouraging smile.

The girls looked ecstatic.

"You really think so?" asked Tess, turning to Chris.

"Mm-hmm," he mumbled, glaring at Martin and Aviva and rubbing his sides.

"Alright, then," Martin quickly began herding the trio toward the entrance. "You guys better go earn that badge so you can start collecting more signatures."

The girls were just about to exit when the doors slid open and in came Koki and Jimmy. They looked much less soaked than they had earlier, but no less grumpy.

"Oh _there_ you two are!" said Koki, folding her arms and scowling. "We've been looking for you."

Chris and Martin gulped, but relaxed as Jimmy's face suddenly broke into a wide grin.

"Sweet!" he said. "Girl scouts! You don't happen to have a spare box of cookies, do ya?"

"Naturally!" Beatrice reached into her backpack once more and pulled out a box. "I always pack one or two cartons just in case. You never know when somebody will ask. Here you go."

Licking his lips, Jimmy took the box and tore into it immediately. "Yum! I love these! Thanks!"

"That'll be six bucks, please." Beatrice held out a hand expectantly.

The pilot stopped stuffing his face as Koki giggled. "Wha…?" A few crumbs dropped out of his open mouth.

"Cough it up," demanded Tess.

Looking somewhat surprised, Jimmy handed the box to Koki and dug around in his pocket, pulling out a couple crumpled bills and dropping them into Beatrice's waiting palm.

"Thaaank _you_!" she said. "All proceeds from the sale of this item go to the 'Save the Woods' fund. Your donation is much appreciated."

"Oh, and if you're still around tomorrow," said Tess, "make sure to drop by our lemonade stand on the corner of Seventh and Clark Street!"

"Have a fabulous day!" added Jenna.

The three waved cheerfully and practically skipped past Koki and Jimmy on their way out the door.


	5. Jimmy's Gift

**Chapter 5**

**Jimmy's Gift**

"Awww!" Aviva cooed after the girls were gone. "Weren't they just the sweetest little things?!"

"I know!" Koki gushed in agreement. "But what was that 'Save the Woods' thing they were talking about?"

Aviva took a moment to explain the past half hour's happenings to her and Jimmy.

"What?" said Koki in astonishment. "They can't mess with these woods! That's so not cool! Now I wish we could've signed their petition before they left." Then she pointed accusingly at Chris and Martin. "But don't think we haven't forgotten about today's little incident."

"Yeah" said Jimmy through a mouthful of cookies. "We're still gonna get you back."

"In the meantime," said Aviva, "I think we should make plans to head into town and check out that lemonade stand tomorrow."

"Wait, wait, hold it!" Chris said, waving his hands at Martin and Aviva. "What were you two _thinking_? I mean, it's literally impossible for those kids to get all the signatures and raise enough money by Thursday!"

"Aw, c'mon, Chris," Martin said. "Did you _see_ their faces? These woods are important to them. We've gotta help'em out!"

"I know, I know, I want to help too, but how? The meeting is this Thursday!"

"And?" Koki said, folding her arms.

"Guys, today's _Tuesday_!"

The others looked a little lost for words at that one.

"Whoa!" said Jimmy. "Really? 'Cause last time I checked the calendar, I swear it was, like, still Sunday."

Aviva's eyes dropped to the floor and she sighed heavily. "Chris's right. There's next to no time to make a difference."

"So what do we do?" asked Koki. "This just isn't fair!"

"Hey, cheer up, gang," Martin put his arm around Chris's shoulder. "We'll think of something! We always do."

"I hope you're right, bro," said Chris.

xxxx

Next morning, Jimmy groaned and held his stomach as he trailed down the sidewalk a little way behind the rest of the team.

"How're those cookies treatin' ya, JZ?" Martin called over his shoulder.

"Not so good…"

"Maybe you shouldn't have eaten the whole box by yourself," said Aviva.

"And they seemed a little pricey, don't you think?" Koki giggled.

Jimmy managed a slight smile. "Yeaaah…but they were so worth it."

"Look!" Chris said, pointing. "There they are!"

There on the corner were two dejected-looking girls sitting next to a card table and surrounded by colorful posters proclaiming their noble cause. The top of the table was loaded with an almost full jug of lemonade and lots of paper cups, but the most disheartening object was the large, next-to-empty jar of cash in the middle of it all. Obviously, things weren't going so swell.

The Wild Kratts team exchanged concerned glances.

"Oh boy…" Koki sighed.

Aviva wasted no time in walking briskly up to the girls. As soon as they saw her and who she'd brought along, Jenna and Tess perked up.

Aviva waved as the others followed close behind. "Hey, ladies!"

"You came!" exclaimed Jenna, hopping up and down and making her springy hair bounce.

"Sure we did!" said Martin. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Well," said Tess, twisting a tassel of today's pink beanie, "because usually people don't take us seriously."

"They think we're annoying and weird for even trying," added Jenna, making a pouty-face. "Especially grown-ups."

"Where's the other girl?" asked Martin, taking a look around.

"Beatrice? Oh, she's on her way. She had an orthodontist appointment so she could get her braces tightened and pass off her oral health badge at the same time."

Martin blinked. "Oh. So…have you two had much luck yet?" It was kind of a pointless question, but he had to ask anyway.

The girls sighed and shrugged.

"Hi guys!" The group turned to see Beatrice running up to them, flaming red braids flying. She was decked out in full Clover Scout regalia which consisted of a knee-length, sharply pleated green skirt, a white button-up shirt, and her sash which seemed to be sporting a freshly earned badge right at the top. "How's it going?"

"Terrible." Tess indicated the measly contents at the bottom of their jar. "All we've had since setting up were a couple college students on their way to class. They said it tasted good and they signed the petition."

"It _should_ taste good," replied Beatrice, frowning. "It took me all night to calculate the perfect formula for the ratio of drink mix to cups of water for optimum taste."

"That's pretty impressive!" Aviva commented. "Can I take a look at that formula?"

"Of course!" Beatrice pulled out a sizeable calculator and handed it to her.

"And hey, two more signatures isn't…_too_ bad," added Koki, trying to sound hopeful.

"If we can swipe a pen for a second, we can add two more," said Jimmy.

"Here," Jenna held one out and both Koki and Jimmy scribbled their names on the list.

"I sure could use a drink after all those cookies." Jimmy took one of the full cups sitting on top of the table and gulped it down. "Ahhhhh. That _is_ good!" He wiped his mouth on a sleeve, then reached into a pocket and dumped a huge handful of quarters into the jar. "Can I have some more?"

The girls' faces lit up as they stared at the shiny pile.

"No wonder you were so slow getting here!" said Martin, throwing him an approving smile.

Koki nudged the pilot. "Ha! And you blamed it on a tummy ache."

"Did you plan this?" asked Aviva, looking up from the calculator.

Jimmy shrugged. "Oh…maybe. Anybody else want a glass?"

Beatrice, Tess and Jenna looked at them expectantly, hardly daring to believe their luck.

"Definitely," said Martin, "but I think I'll pay for my own. What about you, bro?" He turned to find his brother standing a few feet behind them all, deep in thought with a hand on his chin.

"Chris? You've been pretty quiet this whole time. What's up?"

The corners of the younger Kratt's mouth began to turn up in a smile.

"I think I have an idea."


	6. The Big Idea

**Chapter 6**

**The Big Idea**

Aviva put down the pile of posters she had been carrying. "There, I think that's everything."

"Can somebody please tell me why we just dragged the whole lemonade stand five blocks to Main Street?" Jimmy panted, hunching over in exhaustion with his arms dangling down in front of him.

They were setting everything back up on the sidewalk in front of a large, redbrick building with white pillars at the top of a wide flight of steps.

"C'mon, Chris," said Koki, "tell us your big idea already!"

Chris straightened up from depositing the heavy water cooler full of extra lemonade beside the card table.

"Ok, Clover Scouts," he said, turning to the three girls, "pop quiz question number one: when plants want to attract pollinators to spread their pollen and make new plants, what do they do?"

"Ooh, ooh!" Jenna jumped up and down, waving her hand in the air. "I know! They advertise! We learned that in science class last year."

"Right! Now, pop quiz question number two: when an important food source for some types of animals runs out, what do _they _do?"

"Easy," lisped Beatrice, "they migrate to better feeding grounds."

"Exactly, which is why we're now standing on Main Street…except we're not looking for better food…"

"Maybe you're not," muttered Jimmy, rubbing his hungry stomach.

"…we're looking for better business and more people," Chris finished.

"Hey," said Martin, "I think I see where you're going, bro…"

"Ok, hold it," Koki interrupted, putting a hand on her hip. "I get the whole 'migration' thing, but what do plants have to do with a lemonade stand again?"

"Well," replied Chris, "we want to attract attention like the plants do. And what better way to attract that attention than setting up shop right in front of City Hall in the middle of Main Street?"

"Oh, I get it!" said Aviva.

"In addition," he continued, "plants send out scent signals that say 'come over here for the best nectar in the area', right?"

"Right," the three girls answered in unison, nodding their heads.

"So that means we should do the same sort of thing."

"Wait, you're saying we should send out scent signals?" Jimmy asked, lifting an eyebrow in confusion.

Aviva laughed. "No, no, no, Jimmy! He's saying we could spread out the posters along the street which will tell everyone passing by that we've got the yummiest lemonade in town."

"Bingo," said Chris. "And once we've drawn them in, we tell them all about the 'Save the Woods' campaign. If we do a good job, those people will go out and spread the pollen, or in our case, they'll spread the word." He folded his arms, smiling.

"Yup! That's my brother!" Martin put an arm around Chris's neck and gave him an enthusiastic noogie. "You've done it again, Mr. Encyclopedia Chris-Krattica!"

"AACK!" Chris squawked, trying to squirm out of Martin's hold. "Leggo! Stop that!"

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Koki, bending over to pick up a poster. "I'll take one of these down to that corner."

"What're you gonna do with it?" Jimmy asked.

Koki spun on her toes, ending up in an impressive pose. "Stand there and make it look good, silly. What'd you think? Besides, I've got some hip new dance moves I've wanted to try out for a while. See ya!" She whirled around and danced off down the sidewalk."

The three girls waved happily after her. "Bye!"

"Well, that takes care of _that_ end of the street," Aviva giggled.

"What about the other one?"

Aviva turned to him, a devious look on her face. "Jimmy, how well can _you_ dance?"

His eyes widened in realization. "What?! No way!"

"Aw, c'mon, JZ! We all know I can't dance worth anything. Besides, I've got to stay here and man the refill cooler since I'm the only other person besides Beatrice that can make heads or tails of that formula. And the bros can't do it because they've got to help the girls explain to the public why the woods should be saved."

Jimmy bit his lip. It was plain to see he was working some sort of excuse through his mind but it just wasn't coming together the way he wanted it to.

"Please, Mr. Jimmy?" Jenna stepped up, giving him her biggest puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah," Tess joined her, "please? For us?"

Aviva cocked her head to one side, giving him a how-can-you-resist-those-little-faces look.

"Aw, don't do that!" said Jimmy. "That's not fair!"

Beatrice brought something out from behind her back. "Would you do it for another box of cookies?"

Jimmy's jaw dropped. "More…c-c-cookies?"

"Sure! And they're on the house since you already gave us a leg up with the cash jar!"

"Alright, alright, I'll do it!" he took the box.

The girls jumped up and down, squealing with excitement.

"See?" said Aviva. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Just don't make me do anything stupid."

Aviva put an arm around his shoulders and began steering him off in the direction of the other corner.

"Of course not! Just think of yourself as that guy that always stands holding the giant arrow sign outside your favorite pizza shop. It's the same idea."

Jimmy sighed. "I guess you're right. That dude _does_ have some sweet moves."

"Perfect. And now you have a full box of cookies to eat while you forward the cause!"


	7. The Developer

**Chapter 7**

**The Developer**

By midafternoon, things were looking up for the Clover Scouts. Chris's theory was starting to prove itself right and for every person who dropped by the stand to see what all the signs were about, several others followed shortly after. Some of the first customers of the day even came back for more later. The jar was slowly filling up with cash and Aviva was kept busy filling up the reserve cooler with fresh lemonade.

The most important change, however, was happening on the petition list. The Kratt brothers and the Clover Scouts were obviously making a pretty convincing argument to everyone who stopped to see why this particular stand was so popular. The list, which had started out with a mere twenty one names that morning, now had over seventy five.

The real proof that word was getting out came when the van from the local news station arrived. Apparently, they wanted the latest scoop on the rumors spreading like wildfire about three young girls and their crusade to save their favorite woods. Things like this didn't usually happen in a small, quiet town, so naturally, they wanted in.

"Hey!" Tess pointed. "It's the reporter from channel three news! And he's headed this way!"

"Looks like you're about to get your wish to be on TV after all," said Martin.

Jenna fluffed up her hair nervously and straightened her denim jacket. "I hope I look ok. How's my hair?"

Beatrice rolled her eyes. "It's fine. The important thing is that we represent the Cluster properly. I told you two you should have worn your uniforms today."

Tess looked down at her t-shirt and baggy shorts. "Nah, too itchy. I only wear it when I have to."

"And I can never find any accessories that really match it," said Jenna. "Ooh! Here comes the reporter!"

"Hello," said a tall man in a snappy suit with slicked-back hair. He was holding a microphone and another guy with a camera followed close behind. "Are you three the ones we've been hearing so much about?"

Chris grabbed his brother by the sleeve and tugged him sideways. "We should get out of the way. I think they can handle themselves for now."

"Good idea. Hey, Aviva, how're the refills coming?"

"Peachy," she replied, smiling as she stood up from pouring a final cup of mix into the container. "That Beatrice really knows her stuff."

"Hmm." Chris shielded his eyes with a hand to look down the street at Koki, who was still dancing away and going strong. "Looks like our advertising scheme is holding up."

"Uh…not so much on the other corner," Martin jerked his head in that direction. Jimmy was starting to look droopy and all around pathetic.

"Oh no," said Aviva. "He ran out of cookies!"

"Don't worry, I'll handle this." Martin brushed quickly passed, smiling mischievously and heading for a thick bush on the lawn of Town Hall. Once there, he stuck his whole upper half inside it.

"What's he doing?" Aviva asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chris merely shrugged, just as lost as she was. They watched as Martin popped back out, grinning and holding something small and black in the palm of his hand. Carefully covering it over with the other one, he trotted off in Jimmy's direction.

"Oh," said Chris. "_Now_ I get it."

Before the pilot even knew he was there, Martin dropped the object down the back of his shirt. It took a few seconds for Jimmy to register that something was up, but when he did, it was like a he'd had a fresh change of batteries.

"YIPE!" he shrieked hopping up and down and wiggling all over as Martin made his getaway. "Bug in my shirt, bug in my shirt, BUG IN MY SHIIIRT!"

"Whoo hoo!" called Martin as he jogged back to them. "I think he'll be ok now."

"That thing wasn't poisonous, was it?" Aviva asked, wrinkling her nose but trying not to laugh at the same time.

"Nah. I checked."

"I think the news interview is wrapping up," said Chris.

The reporter put down his microphone and thanked the girls as he and the cameraman walked back to the van, each holding a cup of lemonade. When they had driven away, Jenna, Tess and Beatrice whirled around, looking ecstatic.

"We're gonna be on the six o' clock news!" Tess shouted. "_Everybody_ in town watches it!"

"Yeah," Jenna added. "And we told him all about how that crazy developer wants to take away our woods and how we want to save it. And they're going to be at the meeting tomorrow, too!"

"Girls, this is great!" Aviva congratulated. "This is _exactly_ what we need."

"Y'know," Chris said thoughtfully, "you haven't told us much about this developer guy. Do you three even know who he is?"

"We've only seen him a couple times, but he's crazy!" said Tess. "He's got the whole city council on his side!"

"And he's skinny and pale and dresses weird," added Jenna.

"And he's getting out of the Mayor's limo right now." Beatrice pointed at the long black car that had just pulled up by the curb.

Aviva's, Chris's, and Martin's jaws all dropped in tandem as a familiar but completely unexpected figure rapidly approached them. It didn't seem possible—or remotely fair, for that matter.

"_Zach_?!"


	8. Mayoral Suggestion

**Chapter 8**

**Mayoral Suggestion**

Zach came to a halt right in front of the group, clenching both his fists and fuming.

"You Wild Rats get in the way of _everything_!" he spat angrily. "I read your dumb posters so I know what you're up to, but it won't work. I just got back from lunch at the best restaurant in town with the Mayor _and_ several prominent city council members. I've pretty much got everybody I need right where I want them."

"What's going on here?" A balding, middle-aged man in a blue business suit approached from behind Zach. "Hi, kids."

"Hi, Mr. Mayor, sir," the girls replied in unison, each staring at Zach apprehensively.

The skinny villain spun around to face the Mayor. "Call the police and get these annoying brats out of here. All of them! They're trying to ruin me!"

The Mayor sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead and looking like he sincerely wished his day could be over with.

"Mr. Varmitech," he said, "they're not hurting anything."

"Yes they are! They're selling _lemonade_ and _protesting _on the front lawn of City Hall!"

"No we're not—" started Chris.

"Oh yes you are! The lemonade is here, the posters are here…_you're_ here…"

"Uh, Mr. Varmitech," interrupted the Mayor. "They're not on the lawn. They're on the sidewalk, which is public property. In case you didn't know, here in America it's perfectly fine for a group of girl scouts or anybody else to sell lemonade and protest peacefully on the sidewalk."

"That's stupid!"

"That's the law!" snapped Aviva.

"Rrgh!" Zach snarled, bending down to get on the same level as the girls. "Just you wait for that meeting tomorrow, Clobber Scouts! The city's practically handed me the rights to your precious little woods already! Ha-ha-ha!" He whipped around and stalked off for the building.

"Hey!" Martin shouted after him. "That's 'Clover Scouts'!"

"Whatever!"

"I'm sorry about that," the Mayor apologized, running a hand over his thinning hair. "He's very hard to negotiate with."

"We know," both Chris and Martin said at the same time.

"You've met him before?"

"Yup."

"Your Mayor-ness?" Jenna piped up. "If we get all the signatures and raise all the money just like you said…you'll give us back our woods, right?"

The Mayor looked a little cornered. "Listen, kids, I think what you're doing here is fantastic and you have every right to give it your best shot…but as mayor of this town, it's my job to try to see both sides of the issue. That means I have to listen to Mr. Varmitech's point of view too. And it's not entirely up to me. This is a democracy, so I still have to hold that meeting tomorrow so the council can vote."

The girls' heads drooped sadly.

"Tell you what. The best thing you can do is keep collecting those signatures. And if you can find an adult to represent you and voice your concerns convincingly at the meeting, maybe you'll have a chance at winning some of the council members over."

"Really?" asked Jenna, looking up with a hopeful smile.

"Really. In the meantime," the Mayor reached into a pocket and pulled out a couple quarters, "I'll take a cup of that lemonade. I could use one after sitting through lunch with that weirdo."

"Yes _sir_!" Tess poured him a glass right away and handed it to him.

The Mayor took a small sip. Right away, his face lit up.

"Wow! This is great!"

Beatrice beamed, glancing shyly back at Aviva. "It's my special formula."

"It's wonderful." He finished the glass, looking satisfied, then turned toward the building with a sigh. "Well, I should probably go find Mr. Varmitech before those robots of his ruin any more antique furniture and historical portraits. Good luck and see you all at the meeting tomorrow."

The group watched him go.

"Y'know," said Aviva, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say the Mayor is on the fence about this whole thing."

"Sure sounded that way," Martin agreed.

"But now we have a new problem," said Chris. "Who's gonna stand up and plead our case to the city council?"

"I know!" blurted Tess. "How 'bout someone really smart?"

"They would have to be."

"And kinda nerdy," Jenna added.

"That might be a plus."

"Somebody who knows exactly what he's talking about," Beatrice lisped.

"Exactly."

"How about a guy with an incredible understanding of why this particular ecosystem is important to the community _and_ all the creatures they share it with?" Aviva chimed in, grinning.

"Perfect!"

"And he'd have to have a _huuuge_ reserve of knowledge to rely on for backup," Martin said innocently as he put his arm around Chris's shoulder.

"Yeah, he would—WHOA, wait a second!" Chris jumped. "You're…you're not suggesting…"

Martin laughed. "Uh, yeah we are, bro."

"WHAT?! No way! I can't get up there in front of this whole town and defend the woods! I'm not a public speaker!"

"C'mon, CK!" Aviva said. "You can do it! And we'll be right there with you the whole time!"

"B-but…but…"

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to make a convincing argument," said Martin.

"Yeah?"Chris grumbled, scowling. "Then why don't you do it?"

"Sorry," Martin folded his arms, "I don't have an encyclopedia where my brain should be."


	9. Research

**Chapter 9**

**Research**

"Hey," Martin called out, "has anybody seen Chris?"

"Not since we got back from town earlier this evening." Aviva yawned. The crew was getting ready to hit the sack. Tomorrow was the big day and they had to get up early if they wanted to help the girls sell just a little more lemonade before the meeting in the afternoon.

"Maybe he took off and went into hiding?" Koki suggested with a giggle. "I would."

"Hmm," said Martin. "But where would he…wait!" He snapped his fingers. "I bet he _did_ take off! I think I know where he might be." He grabbed his headlamp and creature pod and made for the door, but a hand on his shoulder held him back. Martin turned to see Jimmy.

"When you find him, give'im this." He held up a sandwich. "He'll probably be hungry."

"Thanks!"

xxxx

Martin headed out into the dark, quiet woods surrounding the lake. He was fairly certain his brother was out here somewhere, it was just a matter of pinpointing an exact location. Chris wasn't responding to calls on his creature pod, so he had either forgotten to take it along or his mind was miles away. Martin guessed the second was probably the case.

"Chris!" he called. His voice echoed through the trees a few times, but he didn't receive an answer. Martin wasn't too worried about this, but it _was_ making things a little more difficult.

After about a half hour, he finally caught a glimpse of what he'd been searching for: a pinprick of light hovering high above the ground.

"I knew it," he mumbled, smiling as he broke into a jog.

Soon he was standing at the base of a large tree, gazing up into its branches. Perched somewhere just out of his line of sight was his brother. Who knew what on earth he was doing at this hour, but he'd found him nonetheless.

Martin reached for a low branch and hauled himself up with a grunt. He was a little less adept at tree-climbing than Chris, but it didn't stop him from ascending without much difficulty.

And there was Chris, sitting on a thick limb with his back against the trunk and his legs bent up at the knees. A pile of books and papers sat out in front of him and he seemed completely absorbed in the thick tome currently in his hands. The crowning features of the whole scene were the pencil clamped firmly between his teeth and his headlamp which cast a bright glow over everything. Deep in concentration, he didn't look up as Martin scooted along the branch toward him.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

Chris didn't respond, but Martin could see the muscles in his jaw work as he chewed on the pencil a little and furrowed his brow.

He snapped his fingers in front of his brother's face. "Yo! Chris!"

"Hmm?!" He jumped, looking up in surprise.

"What're you doing?"

"Um doin wetherth," Chris replied matter-of-factly.

Martin reached over and pulled the writing utensil out of his brother's mouth.

"Sorry, dude, I don't speak pencil."

"I said I'm doing research."

"In a tree?" Martin examined the pencil closely. The yellow stick was covered in bite marks. "Y'know, wood and graphite aren't considered part of a nutritious diet."

"I wasn't eating it. I just wasn't using it at the moment."

Martin pulled out the sandwich. "Sure, sure, but maybe you should try this instead."

Chris lowered his eyes back to the book, shifting a little. "I'm not hungry."

"Don't make me force-feed you." Martin sat down in front of him. "You've gotta eat _something_, bro. All we need is for you to get up there tomorrow and pass out in front of the whole town. I don't think that would make for a very impressive argument. What're you reading, anyway?" He snatched the book out of Chris's hands, blinking in astonishment as soon as he saw the title. "_Parliamentary Procedure_? Wow. That's some hefty stuff! But shouldn't you be brushing up on the coexistence of human development and woodland habitats or something?"

"Already did," Chris mumbled, indicating the pile of volumes sitting between them. He leaned over and took back the book along with the pencil. Silence fell between them momentarily as he settled it on his knees to pick up where he'd left off.

A few more minutes passed and Martin watched as Chris scribbled something down in a notebook, the page of which was nearly covered in writing.

"Look," Martin broke into the quiet, "I know you're probably nervous and maybe we shouldn't have pushed you into this…but I really think you'll…" he trailed off, trying to find the right words. "I really think you're the right guy for the job. If anybody can convince the city council about the importance of these woods to the community and to those kids, you can."

Chris didn't say anything.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Hmm, interesting…"

"Oh, c'mon! I'm trying to help you feel better and all you can say is 'hmm, interesting'?"

Chris rubbed his chin, but still didn't take his eyes off the page he was reading.

As much as he hated to admit it, Martin's curiosity had been piqued. "Ok," he said, trying to catch an upside-down glimpse over Chris's knees, "what did you find?"

"It says here that people have sometimes used a tactic called a 'filibuster' to delay or even prevent action in a legislative assembly."

"Huh?"

"It's basically like giving a really long speech to take up time. You only have a couple minutes to formally present your case and usually that's all you get. But in some extreme instances, you can refuse to yield the floor. You just keep talking and talking about anything and everything. It doesn't even have to be about the issue at hand so long as you can stall long enough to get what you want. That's called 'pulling a filibuster'. It doesn't happen often, but it sounds like it could come in handy in a pinch. Cool, huh?"

Martin gave him a blank stare. "Sure, that's great, Chris. That's really, really great. " He placed the sandwich on the pile of books and prepared to climb down. "Don't stay out here too late, ok? You look exhausted and I'm _not_ taking your place if you drift off, fall out of the tree and break your neck."


	10. Sabotage

**Chapter 10**

**Sabotage**

The bright ray of sunshine falling across his face pulled Martin out of his deep state of sleep. Was it morning already? He opened his eyes, a little confused at why his hammock didn't feel like a hammock at all, but was kind of hard and bumpy and smelled like dirt and leaves. Then he realized he was still in the woods on the ground under Chris's tree.

The night before, after he'd climbed down and was only a few steps into his trip back to the Tortuga, Martin felt a pang of guilt at leaving Chris there all by himself. So he turned around and settled himself at the base of the tree.

_I'll just give him twenty more minutes,_ he thought. When that time was up, he had every intention of climbing up there and dragging his brother back to HQ along with him, whether he liked it or not. Chris needed some rest.

And so had he, apparently, because the next thing he knew, he was lying on the forest floor and it was the next day. He must have nodded off…but then that must mean…

Martin's stomach turned a nasty flip and he sat bolt upright with a gasp. Where was his brother?!

"Chris!" Quickly, he scrambled to his feet, searching the area around the trunk of the tree. "Chris, where are—oh no!"

There on the ground on the opposite side of where he'd inadvertently spent the night was his brother. He was lying in a motionless heap, books and papers scattered everywhere. Martin immediately dropped to his knees beside him, mentally kicking himself for not being able to stay awake. He shook Chris's shoulder.

"Chris!" he shouted. "Chris, wake up!"

He didn't move. Martin rolled him over, pushing two fingers into his neck to feel for a pulse.

"C'mon, bro! Don't do this! WAKE UP!"

"Uungh…" Chris moaned, scrunching his eyes and trying to roll back over. "Stop! M'awake already!"

Momentarily stunned, Martin just sat there staring in a mix of anger and sheer relief. Meanwhile, Chris's eyes blinked open and he gave him a confused look.

"What's going on?"

"I thought you were DEAD!"

"Wha…?" Chris sat up, looking all around him. "Martin ,why would I be…?"

"You fell asleep. You fell asleep in the tree just like I told you NOT to! And then you fell out!"

"No I didn't…I mean, maybe I did, but it was only from the lowest branch…"

"Chris!"

"I remember starting to get dizzy so I decided to call it quits and come down but…I don't even recall hitting the ground."

Martin shook his head, not knowing whether to chew him out some more or hug the guts out of him.

"Only you could manage to get out of a tree in one piece while half-asleep."

"I'm not gonna lie, I did sleep pretty well last night."

Martin snorted. "Yeah, because you probably knocked yourself out!"

"What're you still doing out here, anyway?" Chris asked, ignoring the last remark.

"I stayed here to make sure you were ok. Your headlamp's still on, by the way."

Glancing up, Chris switched it off. "Thanks. So, does he crew know we're—"

*_Beepbeepbeep!_* It was Martin's creature pod.

"Well, they will now." He hit the button and a life-size, holographic, and frantic-looking Aviva appeared before them.

"What are you two _doing_?! Where have you _been_?! We woke up and both of you were missing!"

"Listen, we didn't mean to—" Martin started, but it was no use. Aviva was in a terrible rush.

"Why are you out in the woods? We're supposed to meet the Clover Scouts at the lemonade stand in twenty minutes! We've got more signatures to collect and those kids are counting on us so hurry up!"

Before the brothers could even get a word in edgewise, Aviva cut off the call.

"We should probably go," Chris said after a few seconds.

"Uh, yeah."

xxxx

Zach leaned against the windowsill, gazing moodily out at the scene on the sidewalk. People were simply flocking around the table, sipping up cup after cup of that stupid lemonade while they waited to sign that stupid petition.

"Those Wild Rats make me sick," he muttered to the two robots on either side of him, who merely bleeped in response.

Everything had been going his way up until yesterday when the Wild Kratts Team had yet again barged into the picture. The girl scouts were just as annoying. Even so, he was starting to get a little worried. If only there was a way he could slow them down before the meeting. How could he keep people from wanting to sign the petition and put money in the jar?

Zach turned away from the window and leaned back against it with his arms folded, sulking. And then an idea hit him like a bolt of lightning. Across the room, a janitor was busy cleaning another set of windows. Sitting on the ground beside him among a pile of other cleaning supplies were two large jugs of vinegar.

The skinny inventor had no idea why anybody would use vinegar to clean windows (having never actually cleaned any himself), but an idea began to form in his mind. Quickly, he scurried across the floor, snatched them up and ran out the door. The busy janitor never noticed a thing.

Once outside, Zach tiptoed across the lawn to the strip of thick, manicured bushes running along the edge of it.

"Ow!" he yelped as the prickly brambles poked him and snagged at his sweater. "Ow! Dumb bushes! Why do you have to be so scratchy?!"

Slowly, he made his way through the briers until he was positioned right beside the stand. The refill cooler, which was full of water and waiting for Aviva to mix up some fresh lemonade, was right in front of him.

"Perfect!" Zach whispered to himself, rubbing his hands together and grinning evilly. He was about to reach for the cooler when Aviva turned around, ready to pour in a cup-full of powder. Zach jerked his hands back into the bush. Thankfully, Aviva hadn't seen him.

"Hey, Aviva," Martin called, "could you c'mere for a second?"

She straightened. "Sure! Be right there!"

"Yesss!" Zach hissed, snatching the cooler and lugging it back into the bushes where he dumped out the water. Working fast, he uncapped the two vinegar jugs, emptied them into the cooler, then pushed it out into the open with a grunt. "Whew!" he sighed. "That should take care of your lemonade stand! And your precious petition! Ha-ha!" He turned to leave, but decided to tip over the last few cans of powdered drink mix just for good measure before he did. Revenge was going to be so, so sour.


	11. The Lemonade Stand's Demise

**Chapter 11**

**The Lemonade Stand's Demise**

Aviva did a slight double-take as she looked into the refill cooler. She was almost sure there had been more water than that before—

"Hey, Aviva!" Chris called. "We're almost out of lemonade up here."

She shook her head. "Ok, coming right up!" In a matter of seconds, the container was ready and the next batch of cups were being filled. Aviva stood up and took a glance at the now steadily growing list of names on the petition. "Wow! We're almost there!"

"Yeah!" Jenna said. "We only need thirty eight more names!"

"Well," added Tess, "there's an hour left until the meeting, so that should be a piece of cake, right?"

Aviva opened her mouth to answer, but the sound of somebody forcefully spitting something out cut her off. They whipped around to see Martin dripping with lemonade and blinking in total shock. Apparently, he'd been right in the path of the spray.

"Hey!" spluttered the very stunned-looking guy who had done the spitting, still holding a cup. "What're you kids trying to pull here?"

"W-what?" Beatrice asked, thoroughly baffled.

"This stuff is disgusting!"

"But…that's impossible! It's my special formula!"

"Yuck!" somebody else shouted. "What's wrong with this lemonade?"

"Ugh! If I'd wanted a shower, I would've asked for it." Martin wiped his face on a sleeve. "Aviva, what happened back there?"

"Did you follow the formula?" Chris asked.

"Of course I did! I don't know what could've possibly—"

"Look," said another unsatisfied customer as she slammed her cup back down on the table, "I don't know what you think you're doing, but I'm certainly not going to sign your petition. And I want my money back!"

"Yeah!" somebody else shouted. "Me too!"

The girls' heads drooped as the group around the table erupted in a chorus of unhappy agreement. Then they looked helplessly up at Chris and Martin.

Martin sighed, shaking his head. "We'd better give them their money back. Sorry girls."

For the next ten minutes, Aviva, the Kratts, and the Clover Scouts were kept busy handing back money and apologizing for whatever was up with the lemonade, which was still a mystery. The crowd slowly dissipated as each person was refunded and the level of money in the jar dwindled pitifully. Finally, no one was left and no one else was coming along either.

"Hey, guys!" Koki came jogging up to them from her corner, still holding her poster. "What's going on? Did the watering hole dry up or something?"

"Yeah," Jimmy joined them as well. "Where'd everybody go?"

"I don't understand," said Aviva. "I must've mixed up that lemonade hundreds of times since yesterday. I don't know what happened this time around."

Chris picked up a glass. "Well, there's one way to find out."

"Are you sure you wanna do that, bro?" Martin asked.

"Nope. Here." He held it out to Martin.

"What?! Why me?"

Chris folded his arms with a smirk. "Because I have a speech to give today."

"Oh, great excuse, Chris. Why do I always have to be the guinea pig? And what if it kills me?"

"If you drink it and you die, then we'll know it's laced with something toxic," said Jimmy matter-of-factly.

Martin threw him an irritated look. "Well, _that's _comforting. Fine, here goes…" He brought the cup up to his mouth, squeezed his eyes shut and took a swig. Almost immediately, his eyes snapped wide open in surprise. Dropping the cup, he whirled around and spit out the mouthful. "Blech! Ugh! Ick! That tastes like—"

"Like vinegar?" Aviva interrupted. They turned to see her standing by the long hedge behind the table. She was holding apart the bushes and staring at something inside.

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"Take a look."

The others crowded around her to get a glimpse. Lying in the dirt between the branches was the evidence: two empty vinegar jugs.

"Who would wanna spike our lemonade with _that_?!" Tess asked in disbelief.

"I think we might have an idea…" Martin started.

"Oh no!" cried Jenna, pointing to the tipped over cans of drink mix. "And now we can't even make any more! This is terrible!"

Jimmy shrugged. "Maybe the wind knocked them over?"

"That's virtually impossible," Beatrice lisped. "It would've take a particularly strong gust to tip them over _and_ spill out all the powder. We would have felt it."

"Hey, guys," said Koki, holding something up, "get a load of this." Pinched between two of her fingers was a small, black string. "I found this stuck on a twig inside the hedge."

"And all of this points to only one thing," said Aviva. "We've been the victims of a—"

"Zach attack!" both Chris and Martin said at the same time, then whipped around to glare in the direction of City Hall.

The others turned as well and there was Zach, laughing hysterically and pointing through one of the windows. After a second or two, he caught sight of them, stuck his tongue out and pulled down the window shade.

"What's a 'Zach attack'?" Jenna asked.

"It's bad news," replied Koki, shaking her head, "that's what it is."

"Aw, man!" said Tess. "Our lemonade stand is history and we still need thirty eight names to finish the petition! What're we gonna do?"

"There's not much we _can_ do now," said Aviva. "We just have to hope Chris has one killer speech prepared."

"Yeah," Chris gulped. "No pressure…"


	12. Here Come the Girl Scouts

**Chapter 12**

**Here Come the Girl Scouts**

Chris paced up and down the sidewalk in front of City Hall, deep in thought. The lemonade stand had worked fantastically up until the unexpected Zach attack, but the petition was still thirty eight names short. He and the Wild Kratts Team had done everything they could to help those girls protect their woods from certain destruction, but it hadn't been enough. Now everything was up to him, and that was what worried him most.

Sure he could get up there and give the whole town a lecture on the importance of the woods to the environment, but who was going to listen to him? Why _should_ anybody listen to him? He was just some random creature adventurer who'd happened to drop in a couple days ago in a giant turtle ship and offer a helping hand to three girl scouts. The cold, hard truth of the matter was that the entire city council (except maybe the Mayor himself) had already sided with Zach. The odds of Chris turning things around at this point were next to impossible…_unless_…

A hand placed squarely in the middle of his chest stopped him in his tracks before the idea could take shape completely. He looked up into a pair of concerned blue eyes.

"Chris," said Martin firmly, "you've _got_ to stop pacing around and talking to yourself like this. You've been at it for at least twenty minutes and you're making us sick!" He took his hand away. "Not to mention you look kinda weird."

Chris glanced over at the crew sitting on the wide steps of City Hall. Koki and Aviva looked slightly worried, but Jimmy's face was tinged with green and he was holding his stomach.

"Sorry, I…guess I'm a little nervous."

"We can tell." Martin reached down and pulled something out of Chris's tightly gripped hands. "By the way, were you _trying_ to strangle your notes?" He held up the twisted, sweat-dampened remains of what had once been a few sheets of notebook paper.

"Oh no!" Chris snatched them back and started to straighten them out. He hadn't even noticed what his hands had been doing while his brain was off in space. He managed to smooth some of the creases and wrinkles, but most of the writing was smudged smeared beyond recognition. "I can't even read them anymore!"

"Uh…how much of it did you memorize?"

"I wrote it down so I wouldn't _have_ to memorize it!" Chris reached forward and grabbed a fistful of Martin's shirt in each hand. "What do I do?!"

"Easy!" Martin pried his brother's hands off. "Sheesh, I thought you were supposed to be the calm and collected one. Try to relax. Everything will be fine. Just get up there and knock their socks off, ok?"

"But what if I forget something? What if I totally freeze up? There's no way I'll remember everything I wrote in my notes. I'm a creature adventurer, not a public speaker!"

"Listen, you know this stuff backwards and forwards. All you're doing is telling other people about it. Besides, you don't have to give a biology lesson. Nobody wants to listen to that anyway—I mean, it's good to get your facts straight, but the important thing is that you send the message of how much those woods mean to the community and to three little girl scouts in particular. This town has something really special and they should hold on to it."

Chris sighed. He hadn't exactly thought of it from that perspective before. "You're right, bro."

"Don't worry, I'll be out there cheering you on." He smiled and aimed a thumb over his shoulder at the crew. "We all will!"

"Hey, guys!" Koki waved from the steps as people filed into the building. "C'mon! The meeting's starting in ten minutes!"

Chris gulped as his older brother tugged him in the direction of City Hall. Somehow, it felt a lot like he was being rushed off to his own execution.

"Breathe," Martin coached. "Breathing is good. And remember, whatever you do, don't throw up."

"What kind of advice is _that_?!"

"I dunno…just thought it might be helpful."

"Um, thanks."

"Look," Jimmy pointed behind them as they approached the steps. "Here come the girl scouts."

"Aww!" said Aviva, grinning. "They're wearing their uniforms!"

Sure enough, Tess, Beatrice and Jenna paraded proudly up to them, each sporting the same green skirt, white shirt and sash. The only difference between them all was that Tess was now wearing a bright purple beanie with a poofy pom-pom on the very top.

"Wow!" Koki said. "You guys look great!"

"Thanks," said Beatrice. "I thought it would make us appear more professional if we all wore the official Clover Scout regalia."

Martin smiled in approval. "Well, _I'm_ impressed."

"Thanks," Beatrice repeated, then nudged Tess. "Except Tess isn't supposed to be wearing that hat. It ruins the effect and it's not part of the uniform."

"I've told you a million times, Beet-Rice," Tess snapped, grabbing the earflaps and pulling the hat down onto her head even further, "_don't _question the beanie!"

Beatrice rolled her eyes. "And I've told _you_ a million times not to call me 'Beet-Rice'!"

Jenna giggled behind a hand to the Wild Kratts Team. "They do this all the time."

"It's my lucky beanie," Tess continued, folding her arms defiantly. "We need all the luck we can get."

Jimmy shrugged. "I like it."

Tess stuck her tongue out at Beatrice.

"Yeah," Chris mumbled, "I wish _I _had a lucky beanie to wear today."

"Hey," said Martin, "I offered you my lucky socks, but _nooo_…"

"Gross! You never wash those things!"

"Of course I never wash'em! If I did, all the luck would wear off!"

"Yuck!" Jenna wrinkled her nose.

Tess grinned. "Cool."

"That's not very sanitary," Beatrice lisped matter-of-factly.

Aviva smiled and rolled her eyes. "Ok, everybody, let's go inside before the meeting starts without us."

Without another word, the group followed the crowd through the doors and down a hallway into a large, auditorium-style room. The space was divided in half by a low, wooden partition. In the front were two rows of desks arranged in a semi-circle around a raised podium where the city council would be sitting. The back half was filled with benches for the audience.

"Well," said Martin, "this is it, dude."

Chris didn't respond since his feet suddenly seemed to be glued to the floor. All he could do for several seconds was stare at that podium.

"C'mon, Chris," Martin grunted as he gave him a shove. "You've gotta get up there! Move!"

He stumbled forward a couple steps and Martin (this time with a little help from the crew) gave him another push. His feet started working again and after what felt like ages, he made it across the room to the elevated stand. A row of folding chairs was set up on each side of the podium and he stopped once he reached the one to the left.

There he turned, trying pick out the gang in the sea of people. And there they were: the Clover Scouts, Jimmy, Koki, Aviva, and Martin. He started to give them all a thumbs-up, but was interrupted as somebody smacked into him from behind. He quickly whipped around and came face-to-face with a very skinny, pale, and familiar person.

"Oops!" Zach faked an apology. "Didn't see you standing there, Green-Guy. Maybe the city council will pay you more attention than I just did! Ha-ha-ha! Oh, but wait, they're already on my side. Good thing this meeting will be really short because I've got a bunch of trees to clear out and I can't _wait_ to get started!"

Before Chris could reply, Zach spun on a heel and walked off to his seat on the opposite side of the podium, laughing.


	13. Stand and Deliver

**Chapter 13**

**Stand and Deliver**

Chris sat on the very edge of his seat as the minutes ticked by. He barely listened as the chairmen opened the meeting by explaining the issue at hand to the citizens. Glancing up, he caught sight of the reporter and the camera guy from the local news station at the back of the room. Oh great. All of this was going to be televised. With growing apprehension, he also noted the scattered clicks of camera shutters throughout the audience. He tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry.

"…Mr. Varmitech, you may present your argument," said the chairman, pulling Chris out of his thoughts. "You have two minutes."

Zach stood up and walked over to the podium, tablet computer in his hands. He threw Chris one last sneer before stepping up and clearing his throat purposefully.

"Mr. Mayor," he started, practically brimming with overconfidence, "honorable ladies and gentlemen of the city council…"

Chris resisted the urge to cringe and cover his ears as Zach began his speech. Looking out over the audience again, he found Martin and the team. Jimmy seemed to be preoccupied with something interesting on the ceiling. Next to him, Koki examined her fingernails, a bored expression on her face. Martin looked as if he desperately wanted to jump up and boo Zach off the platform, but Aviva had a firm grip on his jacket, keeping him in his seat for the time being. The girl scouts on the very end of the row each glared daggers at the skinny inventor with their arms crossed.

Before he could make eye-contact with any one of them in particular, the lights in the room dimmed unexpectedly. Zach tapped his tablet a few times and a vivid splash of images appeared on the large, white wall-space behind him.

"Ooh!" said one very impressed council member, "a slideshow!"

Chris's stomach flopped uncomfortably. How was he supposed to compete with this? Chris buried his face in his hands as the audience oo'ed and ah'ed at whatever Zach was showing them.

"This is _bogus_!"

Chris's head snapped up and he couldn't help but smile as Martin's voice cut through the general hum of approval in the room. Aviva quickly shushed him and he slumped down, folding his arms and glowering.

The lights came back on.

"That was just a virtual taste of what an awesome asset my resort can be to this town," Zach continued, ignoring Martin's outburst, "but it can only be that way with _your _generous support, of course."

He was laying it on thick. Chris looked up at the council members who were hanging on every word coming out of the inventor's mouth and nodding silently to one another. All except the Mayor, who seemed a little annoyed by the whole thing.

"As you can clearly see, this hotel would be a fantastic addition to your _charming_ little community. Thank you." Grinning wickedly, Zach gathered up his tablet and took his seat on the other side of the podium.

"And now, on behalf of the…" The chairman adjusted his glasses, glancing down at his papers as if he wasn't exactly sure he'd read something right. He cleared his throat and started again, suppressing a small snicker. "On behalf of the Clover Scouts of local Cluster 309, Mr. Chris Kratt will present a rebuttal to Mr. Varmitech's proposal."

At the sound of his name, Chris felt like somebody had dumped a bucket of ice straight down his throat and into his stomach. Slowly, he rose to his feet, made his way to the podium and reached into a pocket for his maimed notes. After a feeble attempt to smooth them one last time, he blinked out over the crowd and froze. There was the news crew, there were the cameras, there were all the council members, there was the Mayor…

xxxx

"Oh no!" Aviva whispered hoarsely to Martin. "He's frozen up!"

"Maybe his brain shorted out," Jimmy said. "D'ya think he's even breathing?"

"He looks kinda sick," added Koki.

"Mr. Kratt?" prompted the chairman.

Chris jolted out of his momentary stupor. "W-what?"

"You may present your argument to the council now. You have two minutes."

"Oh! Uh…"

"C'mon," Martin mumbled under his breath, not taking his eyes off his brother on the stand, "you can do it, bro. You can do it!"

The Wild Kratts Team and the three Clover Scouts watched as Chris gulped, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I…I don't have a fancy slide show for you…but I know for a fact that Zach's…I mean Mr. Varmitech's hotel proposal is a bad idea."

"Oh?" said the chairman. "Feel free to elaborate."

"Well, for one thing, clearing out that woodland will take away a very important habitat for the creatures that live there."

"And that's a problem?"

"Yeah, it's a big problem!" Chris seemed to be settling into his groove now. "Where will all the animals live if you rip out the trees and put in a huge hotel? Just think if somebody bulldozed your entire town without warning. Where would you go?"

"Interesting point, Mr. Kratt, but we'll have you know that Mr. Varmitech's hotel resort would be a great boost to the economy—"

"Yeah, and it'll boost the output of waste and pollution, too. Ever think about that? It will also suck up energy and resources this town is already depending on. Wouldn't it be better for everyone to leave the woods and the lake how they are? I mean, if all these strange people start flocking to that hotel, it's going to put a lot of strain on the rest of the surrounding environment, not to mention the community itself."

"Way to go, Chris!" Martin shot up out of his seat and shouted, causing both Koki and Aviva to yank him down by the arms.

"Shhh!" Koki hissed. "Do you wanna get us kicked out of here?!"

Chris continued. "If you ask me, those woods are a feature unique to your town that not many other places around here can brag about. The town and the woods have coexisted for who knows how long and have been just fine. Why upset the balance now? Why not preserve a small, natural treasure for _everyone _to enjoy instead of plowing it under and building an ugly resort over top of it that only a few can take advantage of? I've only been here a couple days, but I can tell that your citizens _like_ the woods. They care about them and _want_ to keep them."

"Mr. Kratt," the chairman sighed, "the council gave the Clover scouts the opportunity to prove how much the community _really_ cares about the woods. Did they collect all the signatures required for the petition?"

"Well, yes…I mean, all but thirty eight—"

"And did they raise a suitable amount of money to aid in the preservation of said woodlands?"

"Almost, but—"

"Then I think that's sufficient evidence to verify the town's general feelings about the matter. Your time is up, Mr. Kratt. You may sit down."

"What?! But I was just getting start—"

"I _said_ you may sit down."

A tense silence enveloped the room as Chris stood there for a second in disbeleif. Then a determined look spread across his face as an idea visibly occurred to him. He locked eyes briefly with his older brother.

"Oh no," said Martin. He could almost see the gears turning inside his sibling's head. "Oh, no, no, no! No way!"

"What?" asked Aviva. "His time's up. What's he doing?"

"I…I think he's going to…" Martin searched his brain for the phrase Chris had used last night in the tree, "pull a filibuster."

"Mr. Chairman, sir," said Chris, planting himself firmly behind the podium, "I think I'll hang out up here for a while."


	14. Just Keep Talking

**Chapter 14**

**Keep Talking**

"What did you say?" the chairman asked, giving Chris a disbelieving glance over the top of his glasses.

"I said I'm staying here," Chris replied.

"You had your chance, Mr. Kratt, and your two minutes are up! Take your seat—"

"No way! I'm not sitting down until I've said everything I want to say! Simple as that!"

"Hey!" Zach screeched, jumping up and pointing accusingly at Chris. "This isn't fair! Throw him out! He can't do this!"

The chairman removed his glasses and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Unfortunately, Mr. Varmitech, he's within his rights."

An audible groan echoed throughout the crowd. The town council seemed especially irritated by this unexpected turn of events since they could do nothing but face the torture ahead of them. Whether they liked it or not, they had to stay for the duration of the meeting, no matter how long Chris managed to drag it out for. They were a captive audience.

"Aw, c'mon!" groaned one councilman. "Filibusters don't ever happen outside of Washington D.C.!"

"Actually," Chris answered, "it's rare, but they do." This was as good a starting point as any. All he had to do now was keep talking. "Let me tell you about an interesting example I came across last night while reading in a tree…"

xxxx

"He's pulling a fili-what-huh?" Koki whispered.

"A filibuster!" Beatrice answered excitedly. "According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it's a delaying tactic used to put off or prevent action in a legislative assembly, or an instance of this practice. I've always wanted to witness one of these!"

The rest of them stared at her.

"Chris's delaying the vote by standing there and talking about anything he can think of," Martin translated after a second.

"Ok," said Aviva, getting up and pulling Martin along as well. "Mandatory Wild Kratts Team conference in the hallway. Let's go."

Koki and Jimmy followed as Aviva dragged Martin after her and hurriedly made her way out of the room.

"Is this filibuster thing even _legal_?" Jimmy asked once they had all congregated just outside the door.

"From what Chris told me last night," said Martin, "yeah, it is."

"This is crazy!" Aviva blurted, sounding half overjoyed and half anxious. "He told you he was going to do this?"

"Well, not exactly. I mean, he mentioned it but I thought he was just being super nerdy like he always is. I didn't actually think he was going to use it."

"But why would he wanna delay the vote?" Koki asked. "All he's doing is putting off the inevitable. The city council's gonna give the land to Zach anyway."

Martin thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "Maybe not if the Clover Scouts can get the rest of their signatures!"

"What?" the other three said in unison.

"Think about it," Martin continued. "This whole meeting's being televised. With all the attention we got from the lemonade stand, people are _bound_ to be watching, especially since the most popular news station in town is covering it. Chris put up a pretty strong argument for our side, and now he's got even _more_ attention with the filibuster. The town is probably eating this up! What better time for those girls to get out there and fill up that petition before the vote? It's perfect!"

"You're right," said Aviva.

"Ok, here's the plan. Aviva, you, Jimmy and Koki take the Clover Scouts and help them get those thirty eight signatures."

"What're you gonna do?" asked Koki.

"Well, if I can swipe some paper and a marker, I'll stay here and make sure Chris doesn't run out of things to talk about."

xxxx

Chris had just wrapped up telling everyone present about what the pollution from Zach's hotel could do to the lake when the door at the back of the room opened and Martin slipped inside. He was holding a large yellow legal pad and a black magic marker.

Chris hadn't even noticed that he and the rest of the team had been missing. He'd been a little preoccupied trying to think of more things to say. It wasn't as easy as he'd initially thought it would be. He paused to watch as Martin scribbled something hastily on the notepad, then held it up.

_Keep talking! I'll help! Clovers will finish petition!_

He smiled, feeling a little more confident. His older brother had gotten the message.

Martin lowered the pad, flipped the page, scribbled something else, then lifted it into the air again. This time it was a quick sketch of a squirrel. He was telling him to talk about squirrels? Well, what could it hurt?

"Y'know," Chris started, "squirrels are really cool creatures…"

xxxx

Meanwhile, the tech crew had rounded up the girl scouts and ushered them quickly through the door and into the hallway.

"What's going on?" asked Jenna.

"Listen," said Aviva, "do you guys still have the petition handy?"

"Of course!" said Tess, pulling a thick, folded wad of paper out from under her beanie.

"Great!" Aviva took it. "Now, Chris is doing an awesome job at stalling for us so we can go out there and finish it. How does that sound?"

"Is he going to be arrested?" Jenna asked, completely serious.

"No, silly!" Beatrice answered. "He's just employing a perfectly legitimate, but seldom-used tactic to postpone the city council's vote!"

Tess shrugged. "Cool. Let's go!"

xxxx

Zach pouted in his seat on the stand. He hadn't expected anything like _this_ from the Wild Rats. Not in a million years. Everything had been going so well until Green-Guy decided to go crazy and hijack the meeting. How long was he going to have to sit here and listen to this? If only there was some way he could trip up their brave little last-ditch attempt to save those dumb woods…

At that moment, a bit of movement from the middle of the crowd caught his attention. Sitting up, he watched interestedly as the Wild Kratts tech crew herded the three pesky girls out of the room. What were they up to now? Whatever it was, this could be the break he'd been hoping for. Giggling nastily to himself, he snatched his tablet and silently entered a command for the two Zachbots waiting in the furthest corner of the auditorium. Without hesitation, they drifted unnoticed through a side exit.


	15. Zachbots: Attack!

**Chapter 15**

**Zachbots: Attack!**

Once the tech crew and the Clover Scouts were outside on the lawn of City Hall, they formed a close huddle.

"We'll have to work fast," said Aviva. "Chris can't hold off the vote forever."

"Why don't we split up?" suggested Koki. "We can cover more ground and get more names that way."

"Great idea! I'll help Jenna with this side of the block. Jimmy, you take Tess to the other and we'll meet up in the middle."

Jimmy saluted. "Got it."

"And Beatrice and I will hit the houses across the street," finished Koki.

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Aviva.

The three Clover Scouts nodded, each putting a fist into the middle of the circle. Jimmy, Koki, and Aviva followed suit.

"One, two, three!"

"Break!" they shouted together, and the six of them darted off in their respective directions.

xxxx

"Aren't you one of those girls from the news last night?" asked the middle-aged man who opened the door of Jimmy and Tess's seventh house. They had been at it for nearly half an hour now and were seeing significant progress on their list.

"Yeah!" Tess answered excitedly. "You saw us on TV?"

"Of course I did! And I'm watching the live coverage of the meeting right now." He stepped aside to allow Jimmy and Tess a view of his television. There on the screen was Chris, still talking away.

"_…the knees of some species of reindeer even make a clicking noise when they walk," _he was saying. "_How weird is that_?"

The man aimed a thumb over his shoulder. "This guy's crazy for stalling the meeting, but he sure knows his stuff! Nothing like this _ever _happens around this town. Pretty exciting, if you ask me. So what're you two doing on my doorstep, anyway? Shouldn't you be at that meeting as well?"

Tess held up a piece of paper and a pen. "That guy's stalling so we can get your signature to finish the petition and save the woods! How 'bout it, Mister?"

"Sure, I'll sign it." He took the petition, scrawled out his name and handed it back. "You kids are doing a really good job, you know that? I used to go to those woods all the time when I was little and now my kids play there."

"Thanks, dude," said Jimmy, smiling as they turned to leave.

"It means a lot!" added Tess.

"No prob!" The man waved and closed the door as they hurried down the front steps toward the sidewalk.

"That lucky beanie of yours must be working," Jimmy said. "By the way, I think it's totally rad no matter what anybody else says."

Tess grinned. "Really? Thanks!"

"Trust me, when it comes to lucky hats," Jimmy pointed to his backwards baseball cap, "I'm right there with ya."

"Hey, guys!" Aviva waved as she and Jenna came bounding down the street toward them. "How's it going so far?"

"We got at least ten more names," said Tess.

"Awesome!" squealed Jenna. "We've got thirteen!"

"This is fantastic," said Aviva. "Let's go across the street and…" She trailed off as the sounds of panicked yelling came from not far behind them. The startled group spun around to see Koki and Beatrice sprinting in their direction. Hot on their tails were a couple of big, metallic robots.

"HELP!" Koki shrieked, tugging the terrified Beatrice along by an arm. "ZACHBOTS! THEY'RE AFTER US!"

"Oh no—" Aviva started.

"RUUUUN!" Jimmy's warning came too late. The four of them didn't have time to do so much as blink before the stampede crashed right into them at full speed.

Instantly, the sidewalk exploded into a cloud of dirt and a dizzying racket as the Zachbots unleashed total chaos on the unsuspecting companions. Fists flew, mechanical arms lashed out and blows were exchanged on both sides.

"GET OFF ME—"

"—OW—"

"—LOOK OUT—"

"—YIPE—"

"—IT'S GOT ME—"

"—BACK OFF—"

"—AAACK—"

"—TAKE _THAT_!"

Finally, a robot was launched out of the fray and landed with a smash on the hard cement. Its glowing eyes dimmed and went out as a few last, pitiful sparks escaped its dented head. The second one followed shortly and met its end high up in one of the maple trees lining the road. After a stunned minute or two, the dust settled to reveal the six victorious humans in a tangled heap on the ground. They lay gasping for breath, smudged with dirt and covered in scrapes, but they had won the battle.

"Nice…shot…Jimmy," Koki complimented between breaths. "And ten points to whoever sent the second one into the tree.

"Everyone ok?" Aviva asked, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head where she'd taken a poorly aimed whack from somebody.

"They broke my glasses!" Beatrice cried, holding up the remains of her spectacles.

"And they ruined my hair!" Jenna lamented.

"OH NOOOOO!" All eyes turned to Tess. Her head was a mess of short, blonde, tousled hair...minus a certain purple beanie. "Look!" she lifted the two separate halves it for them to see. "The stupid robots ripped it apart! Now it's not lucky anymore!"

Jimmy and Koki exchanged brief glances, neither one exactly sure what to do or say to console her. Aviva, on the other hand, staggered to her feet, fists clenched and face an unsettling mix of determination and complete anger.

"That's it," she said through gritted teeth. "I've had it with Zach and his low blows. We're going back to City Hall right now!"

"But we _still _haven't finished the petition!" protested Koki.

"We don't need to. We have all the evidence we need right here to send Zach packing. Who's with me?"


	16. End of the Line

**Chapter 16**

**End of the Line**

Martin hastily flipped the page of the notepad and doodled out another sketch, this time of a scene from one of the brothers' many adventures in Africa. He was getting anxious now that the tech crew had been absent for over half an hour. Miraculously, Chris hadn't stopped talking the entire time, but Martin wasn't sure how much longer he was going to hold out. He looked absolutely exhausted and the strain was starting to come through in his voice.

Sure enough, as he raised the notepad into the air, Chris coughed. Several city council members looked up hopefully, but were quickly disappointed as he resumed his lecture about cheetahs. Martin relaxed a little, but not for long. Again, Chris coughed. This time when he picked up, his voiced was raspy and hoarse. He looked out over the crowd at Martin.

"So, there was this…one time in Africa that…" Chris's voice faltered, "that we—" With one last choke, it was over. His voice was completely gone and wasn't showing signs of returning any time soon. Martin slowly lowered the notepad and watched as Chris closed his mouth and wrapped both hands around his throat, a strange, almost desperate look crossing his face.

A collective sigh of relief spread throughout the city council. They knew Chris had nothing left, which meant they could finally vote and conclude what had possibly been the longest meeting in the town's history to date.

"Ha-ha!" Zach jumped up gleefully and pointed at Chris. "What's the matter, Green-Guy? Can't finish your speech? Ee-hee-hee!"

"That's enough, Mr. Varmitech," said the chairman. "And now, Mr. Kratt, if that's all will you _please_ take your seat so we can proceed to…Mr. Kratt? Are you alright?"

Chris didn't answer for several reasons, the main one being that his knees were buckling causing him to collapse. Down he went, accompanied by the horrified gasp that swept through the entire crowd as he disappeared behind the podium with a sickening thud.

Without skipping a beat, Martin dropped the notepad and sprang forward. Dodging left and right, he squeezed through the throng of concerned onlookers.

"S'cuse me, pardon me, comin' through, THAT'S MY BROTHER!" He vaulted onto the stand and skidded around the podium to find Chris sprawled on the floor. Quickly, he dropped down beside him and started tapping on his face as the nervous din in the room grew louder. "Chris! Bro! Can ya hear me?"

Chris's eyes blinked open and shifted over to focus on Martin.

"You ok? Speak to me! Say something!"

Chris's mouth moved as he attempted to answer…but nothing came out.

"What?"

Chris gave it another go, then pointed at his throat and shook his head.

"Uh-oh…" Martin said, stomach sinking. "Guess this means the show's over. Well, you did great, but you still managed to pass out in front of the whole town." He helped Chris sit up, then pulled his arm around his shoulders and hauled him to his feet.

"And now," continued the chairman after seeing that Chris was still alive, "if we're through with the interruptions, I think it's high time for the council to vote."

"I don't believe it!" Martin mumbled, scowling. "All that work and they're _still _gonna—"

At that second, the back door flew open with a bang.

"Hold it!" Aviva shouted as she and the tech crew rushed in, followed closely by the three girls. The group looked like they'd been through some sort of hurricane recently and Koki and Jimmy were dragging in what appeared to be a crunched hunk of metal.

"_Now_ what?" groaned the chairman, slapping his forehead.

"That mean skinny guy sent his evil helpers to attack us!" Jenna piped up, pointing at Zach.

"Hey!" said Zach. "What did you do to my robot?! That's sophisticated technology, you know!"

"What," said Koki, dropping her end of the remains of the Zachbot, "you mean _this_ robot? The one you sent to try to _kill_ us?!"

Zach looked scandalized. "_Me_?! Dispatch my robots to ambush innocent children?"

"Yes, you!" snapped Aviva.

"What're you talking about? You probably stole them and staged the whole thing to make it _look_ like—"

"QUIET!" shouted the chairman and the room fell into silence. "This is getting ridiculous. First we have a filibuster, next everyone's accusing everybody else of assault and property damage! _What_ is going on here?"

The sound of someone clearing his throat came from the far left side of the room. The Mayor was on his feet and heading for the stand.

"Mr. Chairman," he said, "if you don't mind, I can vouch for the obnoxious nature of these robots. They've already destroyed several priceless items in this building alone so it wouldn't surprise me if they happened to take it a step further."

"They chased us down the street and broke my glasses!" shouted Beatrice.

"And they _ruined_ my lucky hat!" Tess chimed in.

The chairman turned to Zach. "Is this true, Mr. Varmitech?"

"It was obviously the robots that did all that," he protested, "not me!"

"_But_," Martin cut in, "they always say that technology can only be as smart as the person running it."

"Ha! You have no proof—"

The Mayor stepped over and took the tablet out of the villain's hands.

"Hey! That's mine!"

"I think this will explain a few things." The Mayor tapped it and the empty wall behind the stand was filled with a giant projection of the tablet's screen.

_Command: Zachbots, get those Wild Rats and those annoying Clobber Scouts!_

The audience gasped as Zach froze.

"Eh-heh…" he attempted a laugh. "How'd that get on there?"

"Do you really want someone like this owning _anything_ in your town?" Aviva asked, posing the question to the entire room and not just the chairman and the council.

"No way!" somebody shouted.

"Throw him out!" came another voice, this time from the half-circle of city council members. "He hates kids!"

"Save the woods!"

"Caribou are awesome! Woo hoo!"

"Looks like _somebody_ was listening to you," Martin muttered to his brother.

Chris merely raised an eyebrow, still looking a bit dazed.

"Mr. Chairman," said Beatrice, coming forward and depositing a very wrinkly and worn set of papers on his desk, "we didn't completely finish the petition…"

"…and we didn't get _all_ the money we were supposed to…" added Tess as she put the jar on top of the papers.

"…but _please_ don't take away our woods!" Jenna begged, clasping her hands. "Don't give them up to that nasty skinny guy! He's a dishonest jerk and we don't think he'd be a very nice hotel manager."

The room watched breathlessly. Even the other council members seemed to be waiting for the ultimate answer. For a few seconds, the chairman stared down at the results of the girls' crusade, then a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Well," he started, "after a closer view of the efforts on behalf of the Clover Scouts' 'Save the Woods' campaign, I think we as a council have unanimously decided _not_ to allow Mr. Varmitech to purchase the land." The other council members nodded.

"WHAT?!" Zach blurted before the chorus of cheers went up from the mob of townsfolk and drowned him out entirely.

The chairman held up a hand for silence. "Just one more thing…" he moved the money jar off the petition and pulled out a pen. "I think there might be a few more people who want to sign this."


	17. Laryngitis

**Chapter 17**

**Laryngitis**

"…and the Mayor said that the money we raised from the lemonade stand will go toward an _official_ fund to help maintain and preserve the woods forever!" Beatrice lisped excitedly.

It was late morning of the day after the meeting. The three girls and the Kratt brothers were standing by the lake, close to the clearing where Jimmy had landed the Tortuga several days ago.

"That's great!" said Martin.

"Yeah, but we couldn't have done it without you guys," said Jenna.

"Aw, you three did all the work," Martin replied. "We just happened to be in the neighborhood to lend a hand."

Chris scribbled something down on the notebook he'd been holding and held it out for the girls to read.

_If it weren't for you, the woods would probably be gone already!_

The Clover Scouts each blushed.

"Thanks for the help," said Jenna. "Sorry about your voice, Chris. And it's a good thing you fell out of a tree and landed on my head, Martin!"

Martin grinned as Chris nudged him in the ribs. "Well, it was the least I could do. Oh, and by the way, don't go around picking up any more squirrels by the tail." He winced and rubbed his backside. "And whatever you do, _don't _drop them. That really hurts."

Beatrice's face reddened. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Chris wrote something else on his notepad, then held it out again.

_What're you three going to do now?_

"Oh, we've got plenty of stuff!" said Tess. "We were actually just on our way to finish up our navigation badges and we thought we'd stop by." The girls each held up matching compasses.

"Sounds cool," said Martin. "Good luck and have fun!"

"Thanks! Bye!

The Clover Scouts waved happily and trotted off into the trees.

"Where were they going in such a hurry?"

The brothers turned to see Aviva coming toward them.

"They had more badges to earn," replied Martin.

"Oh." Aviva giggled. "Figures. So, Chris, Koki and I cross-referenced the scan I took of your throat this morning with the Tortuga's medical database and it looks like you've got a classic case of laryngitis. That's a sudden loss of voice due to inflammation in the larynx which, in your case, was brought on by extreme overuse of your vocal cords."

Chris rolled his eyes and smacked his forehead.

"Aw, c'mon, bro," said Martin. "There's nothing to worry about. Cheer up! You'll get your voice back…eventually."

Chris threw him an annoyed look.

"You gave it up for a good cause," Aviva added.

The younger Kratt scribbled on his notebook again, then handed it to Aviva.

_What now?_

"Well," she sighed, "it usually takes one to two weeks to heal completely."

Chris's mouth dropped open.

"And you're not going to like this," Aviva continued, "but in order for you to fully recover, you're going to have to take it easy for a while. That means no talking, no shouting, no laughing, no cheetah chirping, no bird calling, no wolf howling, etcetera."

"Wow," said Martin. "That's a lot of 'no's."

Looking thoroughly miserable, Chris slumped down on to a large rock.

"Oh, and one more thing," added Aviva, backing away from them for some reason. "No screaming."

"What?" Martin asked, exchanging a confused glance with his disheartened brother. "Why would he want to—"

*_Splash!_*

Both brothers gasped as an icy deluge of water poured down on their heads from out of nowhere.

"YIKES!" Martin yelped.

Chris jumped off the rock and he and Martin whipped around to find Jimmy and Koki standing behind them, each holding a large, empty bucket and looking satisfied with themselves. How the two ever managed to sneak up on them in the first place would forever remain a mystery.

"Told ya we'd getcha back," said Jimmy, grinning and giving Koki a fist-bump.

**The End**


End file.
